Tiernan Quotes

“There is darkness in light, there is pain in joy, and there are thorns on the rose.”
― Cate Tiernan

“Next time you'll remember not to drop your guard,' the knight says, observing the wounds on Oak's cheek.

'My vanity took the worst of the blow,' he says.

'Worried about your pretty face?' the knight asks.

'There is too little beauty in the world,' says the prince airily. 'But that is not my area of greatest conceit.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“No one in chains could ever truly love you.'

He glares. 'Do you expect me to believe you know anything about love?'

The truth of that hits like a blow.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“You ought to be on my side,' he says, looking hurt. 'I was poisoned.'

'That's another good reason for me to go in your place,' Tiernan puts in.

'Pragmatist,' says Oak, as though it's a dirty word.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“You can't help trying to charm every snake you come upon, no matter how cold-blooded or vicious. Let that one be.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“What I feel is not like the ballads.'

'No an affliction, then?' Oak raises an eyebrow. 'No fever?'

Tiernan gives him an exasperated look- one with which the prince is very familiar. 'It is more feeling that there is a part of me I have left somewhere and I am always looking for.'

'So he's liking a missing phone?'

'Someone ought to pitch you into the sea,' ...”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I'm fine,' Oak says, sliding off the horse and immediately collapsing onto the asphalt.

'Fine?' the knight echoes, eyebrows raised.

'I couldn't say it if it wasn't true,' says the prince, and manages to stagger to his feet. He leans heavily on a nearby car.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“We learned something of her capabilities.'

'And you want me to tell you that was worth you being poisoned?' the knight demands.

'I'm always being poisoned. Alas, that it wasn't blusher mushroom,' the prince said nonsensically.

Tiernan nods his chin at me. 'That girl thinks you're a fool for even being here.'

I scowl, because that's not what I meant.

'Ah, Lady Wren,' Oak says, a lazy smile on his mouth. Marigold hair brushing his forehead, half-hiding his horns. 'You wound me.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“You have an unusual voice,' he says. 'Raspy. Quite fetching, really.'

'I damaged my vocal cords a long time ago,' I inform him. 'Screaming.'

Oak steps between us, and I am grateful for the reprieve. 'What a fine gentleman you make, Jack.'

Jack turns to the prince, his sinister smile dropped back into place. 'Oak and Wren, Wren and Oak. Delightful. Named for woodland creatures, but neither of you so simple.' He glances at Tiernan and Hyacinthe. 'Not nearly as simple as these two.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Oak was never taught to fight any way but to kill. He doesn't know any elegant parries. He cannot show off. All he can do is deal death. And once he starts, he doesn't stop. I'm not sure he can.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“He talked about you,' Tiernan says.

I feel like an animal after all, one that's been baited in its den. I both dread and desire him to keep talking. 'What did he say?'

'That you didn't like him.' He gives me an evaluating look. 'I thought maybe you'd had a falling-out when you were younger. But I think you do like him. You just don't want him to know it.'

The truth of that hurts. I grind my sharp teeth together.

'The prince is a flatterer. And a charmer. And a wormer around things,' Tiernan informs me, entirely unnecessarily. 'That makes it harder for him to be believed when he has something sincere to say. But no one would ever accuse me of being a flatterer...”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Your HIghness,' Tiernan hisses at Oak. HIs sword is drawn and his jaw set. 'Get below.'

'And how will that help, exactly?' Oak demands. 'Will waiting to drown make the experience better?”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Lo bueno de ser inmortal es que no puedes beber literalmente hasta caerte muerto, como lo hacen los niñatos universitarios de vez en cuando. Lo malo de ser inmortal es que no puedes beber hasta caerte muerto; y entonces, al despertar a la mañana siguiente o incluso un día más tarde, te toca comerte la resaca que te habrías ahorrado si hubieras tenido la suerte de morir.”
― Cate Tiernan, Immortal Beloved

“If Oak is the sunlight filtering through trees in the woods, all shifting gold and shadow, then Tiernan seems like those same woods in winter, the branches barren and cold.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“I note how stiff they are with each other, how carefully they keep separate, as magnets must keep a safe distance or be slammed together by their very nature.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“We walk, fading stars overhead, brine in the air.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“You had the privilege of carrying the prince a ways, and that's that. Whatever we see fit to give you in recompense, be it a coin or a kick in the teeth, you'll take it and be grateful.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“How will they sell rubies?' I ask him. 'Why not leave them something more practical?'

'As a prince of Faerie, I flatly refuse to leave cash. It's inelegant.'

Tiernan shakes his head at both of us, then pokes at the foodstuffs selecting a handful of nuts.

'Gift cards are worse,' Oak says when I do not respond. 'I would bring shame to the entire Greenbriar line if I left a gift card.'

At that, I can't help smiling a little, despite my heavy heart. 'You're ridiculous.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Despite the deep pits that lead to oubliettes, the trees that move to make you lose your way, the ice spiders that wrap their prey in frozen gossamer, the mad king, and the curse.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Let's stop here,' Tiernan says, and Oak collapses gratefully into the snow. 'Wren has suggested we change clothes.'

'I do appreciate your commitment to use looking our best,' says the prince.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Let's stop here,' Tiernan says, and Oak collapses gratefully into the snow. 'Wren has suggested we change clothes.'

'I do appreciate your commitment to us looking our best,' says the prince.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Given what we saw yesterday, I must admit you were right to suggest we circle around this stretch of woods," Oak says, staring into the trees and frowning.
Tiernan gives a half smile. "I congratulate you on this wise decision.”
― Holly Black, The Stolen Heir

“Why would you want me after all I have done?' Hyacinthe asks, anguished.

'Why does anyone want anyone else?' Tiernan answers. 'We do not love because people deserve it- nor would I want to be loved because I was the most deserving of some list of candidates. I want to be loved for my worst self as well as my best. I want to be forgiven my flaws.'

'I find it harder to forgive your virtues,' Hyacinthe tells him, a smile in his voice.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“—... Ahora, vamos: dibuja un círculo, tan redondo como puedas. Tenía un mal presentimiento acerca de todo aquello. A pesar de ello, obedecí: así soy yo, siempre confiada y obediente. Ja.”
― Cate Tiernan, Immortal Beloved

“He throws his words around like knives. Recklessly. Heedlessly.

Whatever the opposite of being honey-tongued might be.”
― Holly Black

“Joy is never guaranteed,' Tieran says, his voice gentle. 'But you can wed yourself to pain. I suppose, at least in that, there is no chance of surprise.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“Joy is never guaranteed,' Tiernan says, his voice gentle. 'But you can wed yourself to pain. I suppose, at least in that, there is no chance of surprise.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“In ballads, love is a disease, an affliction. You contract it as a mortal might contract one of their viruses. Perhaps a touch of hands or a brush of lips, and then it is as though your whole body is fevered and fighting it. But there's no way to prevent it from running its course.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I want you,' the price hears Tiernan say. Oak feels some chagrin at overhearing that, but he is also surprised at the starkness of the admission. It sounds almost like an accusation.

'And what are you going to do about it?' Hyacinthe asks.

Tiernan snorts. 'Pine, I suppose.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne

“I want you,' the prince hears Tiernan say. Oak feels some chagrin at overhearing that, but he is also surprised at the starkness of the admission. It sounds almost like an accusation.

'And what are you going to do about it?' Hyacinthe asks.

Tiernan snorts. 'Pine, I suppose.”
― Holly Black, The Prisoner’s Throne